West Bengal will develop Tajpur deep port on its own: CM Mamata Banerjee

The West Bengal government will develop the Tajpur deep sea port on its own, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced on Wednesday.

Companies which will partner the state government for the deep sea port will be decided through bidding, she said after the cabinet gave its nod to the much-awaited project.

Banerjee's announcement comes months before the state assembly polls due in April-May 2021. The project when executed will help in employment generation, export and import and generate business, she said.

"We have been trying to build a deep sea port at Tajpur for several years. We had requested the central government to build the port but because of its dilly dallying attitude two years have been wasted and finally they did not undertake the project," she said.

"In fact we had agreed to the Centre's proposal of 74:26 share to construct the Tajpur port. In exchange we had requested it to build an iron bridge at Ganga Sagar. The Centre had initially agreed to it but then withdrew. So we have decided to develop it on our own. The Cabinet approved it today," Banerjee said at the secretariat.

The chief minister had said in January that the state was planning to develop the port alone on public-private partnership model after delays by the central government.

The Cabinet also approved building a cable landing station in Digha and the West Bengal State Broadband Policy, 2020. Banerjee said the state government has been awarded for Kisan Credit Card Information Monitoring System.

A statement issued by the government said due to its uniqueness and excellence, the KCC Information Monitoring System, a project of the finance department has received the prestigious Indian Express Group Digital Technology Sabha Awards 2020 under the Analytics/Big Data Category. The award was given on August 25, 2020, the statement said.

A record 12 lakh non-loanee farmers, who did not have KCC and could not avail bank credit, were provided with the cards in a record time of 84 days with the cooperation of the agriculture and cooperation departments, abnks and district administrations, officials said.

(Photo Credit: PTI)